Lead Time: A Journalist's Education

The Pulitzer-winning Wills (Lincoln at Gettysburg, Why I Am a Catholic) updates his 1983 memoir with a slightly puzzled new preface: "As a sedentary old man, sitting at a desk and writing, I find it amusing to read about a younger self with the energy to chase around reporting on demonstrations, riots, communes, conventions, and political brawls," he writes.

Long Synopsis:

The Pulitzer-winning Wills (Lincoln at Gettysburg, Why I Am a Catholic) updates his 1983 memoir with a slightly puzzled new preface: "As a sedentary old man, sitting at a desk and writing, I find it amusing to read about a younger self with the energy to chase around reporting on demonstrations, riots, communes, conventions, and political brawls," he writes. The eloquent essays that follow were written between 1968 and 1982, spanning culture, politics, and social mores; presidents, protesters, and religious figures.